1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunications, and more specifically to an operational support system (OSS) which may be used by a provider of high bandwidth connections to users at locations such as homes and offices.
2. Related Art
Service providers often provide high bandwidth connections to users. Examples of such service providers include incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) such as PacBell of California, competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) such as Covad Communications Group, Inc. (the assignee of the subject patent application). The ILECs and CLECs are commonly referred to as LECs in the present application.
Efficient and effective delivery of high bandwidth connection services often requires coordination of several tasks and use of related information. The tasks may be performed in several ‘stages’ of the service delivery process. For example, in an initial set-up stage, a service provider may need to setup several types of equipment before being able to deliver service.
The status of the tasks in the set-up stage may impact tasks in other stages as well. For example, a service provider may not be able to accept orders for the service in an area unless service is already available in the area or until there is an indication of expected date of availability of the service in the area.
Furthermore, the interface to accept such orders may need to be simple and user-friendly. The expectations of the requestor of the service may need to be quickly and/or accurately set. Once an order is received, the order may also need to be processed efficiently, at least to minimize the associated overhead for a service provider.